Power
by The Plotsman
Summary: Power is a strange thing. People always want more, but Naruto could do with less. Having power you didn't ask for is all well and good, but eventually you have to do something good with it. Naruto with god-like capabilities, but pedestrian aspirations. Rated T for now, may go up.
1. Chapter 1

**Something that popped into my head when I saw** _ **Avengers: Age of Ultron.**_ **Well, not specifically this part, but what comes later (hopefully I get that far).**

* * *

 **Konohagakure, twenty years post-Kaguya**

Winning was overrated. Naruto thought this as he looked at the empty shell of his village. No one but Naruto had taken a step anywhere in the world for twenty years. He stopped counting such things, but if he'd had a mind to notice, Naruto might have realized that he was thirty-seven now. Had been for a few months. It wasn't readily apparent, he didn't look a day over twenty.

Naruto turned away from the village, back to the wide expanse of the Hokage tower's rooftop. The stone the tower was built from was cracking in places, but it was ideal for Naruto's purpose. Spread across the rooftop was quite a complicated array of seals, black and twisting, and reaching to the edge of the circular rooftop and even down the side of the tower in some places. It was a masterwork, Naruto realized, but no one except for him would ever see it; the product of five years of feverish research, coupled with liberal use of clones, Naruto doubted it could have ever been done by anyone but him.

Thinking back on it, the amount of research and work required to reach this point might never have been possible if anyone had been alive to stop him. He hesitated to say that Kaguya had ever done him any favors, but when she wrenched the chakra away from the whole of the human race she'd made pesky things like security obsolete. When Naruto had wrenched the chakra away from Kaguya, it made things like chakra exhaustion and crippling injuries non-existent and annoying respectively.

He looked down at his naked form, covered as it was by even more seal work. That was for later.

With barely an exertion of force, his body erupted into golden chakra. It settled, giving him the appearance of wearing a long coat and a black body suit underneath. The black Truth-Seeking Balls arranged themselves in a circle behind him as the Six Paths Senjutsu took hold. With a long sigh, Naruto started to float, moving upward to get a bird's eye view of his work. There was a small tingle behind his eyes as the Rinne Sharingan was activated. Kaguya, before her death, had demonstrated a power of the Rinne Sharingan, specifically the power to transport herself and other around her to alternate dimensions. Naruto had never found a dimension where anything was alive, and he'd stopped trying years before. It was fruitless, but perhaps the doujutsu would help with what was to come.

He inspected the gigantic seal for any error and, finding none, slowly lowered himself to the center of effects of the Senjutsu faded as he took a seat, cross-legged, in the center of the seal. His hands flashed through hand-seals as Naruto spread his chakra through the seal around him. It would take a massive amount of chakra, but this wasn't a thing that had worried Naruto since Kaguya had died.

The ink around him started to glow brightly as Naruto's chakra suffused it, powered its purpose. Naruto looked on at the remnants of his village as he powered the seal. Nature had started to reclaim the buildings, plants growing on what was once well traveled road, trees growing through buildings. It was the last time he'd ever see it and he took it all in with his stolen doujutsu, appreciating every last detail and memory briefly before it was all gone. Kaguya kept doing him small favors, even from beyond the grave.

When the seal was fully powered, Naruto clapped his hands together. The light cut out abruptly and all that was left was a very elaborate seal on top of a building in an empty village on an empty world.

* * *

 **Texas, 1901**

This was a nice place, Naruto decided. The grassland extended in all directions and birds flew in the sky, a welcome sight; he hadn't seen an animal in years. As the wind blew through his shaggy hair, Naruto felt the stirrings of more than just the mixed rage, sorrow, and apathy he'd been feeling for so many years. He felt relief, perhaps even hope.

The seal's purpose had been transportation, although the destination had not been set specifically. There was a chance of catastrophic failure by omitting destination coordinates, but the only coordinates Naruto knew of were on a planet devoid of human and animal life. He'd focused on moving to any planet in any universe that also contained life at the moment of activation. The risk of death was high, but Naruto's sense of self-preservation had faded into the background over time. Whatever this planet was, he at least knew that the seal had worked; the life around him was proof of that much.

Naruto activated the Six Paths Senjutsu once more, taking to the air silently. With the Rinne Sharingan he observed the world below him. There were many types of animals, many of them familiar in their morphology, but lacking even the most basic of chakra networks. This planet was astonishingly similar to his own except for that fact. There was no chakra at all.

With the massive range of his doujutsu Naruto was able to spot a small settlement in the distance. Intelligent life was always a long shot, Naruto figured, but it seemed the beings scurrying about were... people. With a boom he shot like a bullet toward the settlement. He reached it inside of ten seconds, stopping with as much abruptness as he'd set off with. He floated over the settlement and stared down in wonder.

It was impossible for the Rinne Sharingan to deceive his mind, Naruto knew, but he needed a closer look. There were indeed people on this planet. They didn't have chakra, but those were undoubtedly men and women scurrying about below him, going through the motions of their daily lives. He had to suppress the urge to cry. There was still work to be done.

He continued to watch the settlement from above when he noticed a carriage leaving the town, being pulled by two horses and driven by a gruff man. Naruto followed, waiting for them to get a fair distance out of town before insinuating himself in the path of the carriage. He dropped his Senjutsu before the carriage came into view again. It pulled into view and drew to a stop in front of him.

" _Whatchu doin' there, fella?"_ Called the driver. Naruto couldn't understand a word he was saying, but he could rectify that quickly. Naruto made eye contact with the driver and, with the power of the Rinne Sharingan, dove into his mind. The man's knowledge of the world became Naruto's, however limited the knowledge was.

"Sleep," spoke Naruto in his new language. The driver slumped over, asleep immediately.

The door of the carriage opened and a man in a top-hat and a nice suit stepped out. "John, what's the delay?" The man caught sight of Naruto and his eyes opened wide in surprise. It took barely a moment for Naruto to pull knowledge from his mind. He uttered another command and this man was asleep in the road.

Naruto stripped the driver, John, of his clothing and got dressed. The clothing was tight, but the boots fit well. He then gathered the two men and piled them into the carriage before unhitching one of the horses and riding it away.

* * *

 **Texas, 1901**

Naruto had stopped at a stand of trees, not too far from the town. An army of clones popped into existence around him and got to work. Chopping down trees and constructing a cabin. Naruto sat on the ground as they worked. He opened his shirt and inspected the ink covering his body. He channeled chakra to the palm of his hand where a new seal appeared. With a puff of smoke a brush and inkwell appeared in his hand while a new clone appeared before him. The clone took the brush and ink and set to work, painting more seals on Naruto's face, connecting them with the rest on his body.

His army of clones had the cabin built by the time the sun went down. He'd sent a few to the town earlier and they'd returned with provisions which included a bed, furniture, and a meal. These had all been acquired via the persuasive power of the Rinne Sharingan. He was abusing its power in these final moments as it would be gone soon. He enjoyed his meal while watching his new horse graze, enjoying the novelty of it after so many years without any company, animal or human. The food was entirely superfluous, of course; when you contained the chakra of the life of an entire planet, you tended to stop needing to eat. Perhaps what came next would rectify that.

Having finished his meal Naruto retired into the cabin, stripping naked once more and summoning a clone. He used an inordinately large amount of chakra to create the clone as it would have a special purpose.

Naruto sat on his bed as the clone finished its final inspection of his seals. It nodded in approval and Naruto lay back on the bed as he started fueling the seals with chakra. This was a seal of a simpler sort, it wouldn't take very much effort to activate.

"Remember, forty years. Give or take one or two," the clone spoke.

"I won't be remembering much of anything important. You know that," he responded. The clone shrugged and gave him a small grin.

"Good luck to us, then. See you around, Boss." The clone gave a little half wave before walking out of the cabin. There was a flash of light and Naruto was unconscious.

There was a flash of light and Naruto was unconscious. He was unconscious for a day or two and when he woke, Naruto Uzumaki felt empty.


	2. Chapter 2

**Texas, 1918**

Nathaniel Cross stared at the passing scenery through the window of the passenger train. He was on his way home. The war was over, and he'd be seeing his wife soon. His brother, too. He'd been away from home for over a year and he was itching to embrace his family. Not for the first time he cursed himself for having lost her picture. A battlefield was no place for mementos and he'd lost it several months in.

He could picture Juanita Reyes (now Cross) in his mind clear as day, a Mexican beauty with caramel skin and dark hair to match her dark eyes. She was almost the polar opposite of Nathaniel himself, light-skinned, blonde, and gruff as he was. Many people hadn't looked kindly on their marriage, far out of the norm as it was, but love found a way, Nathaniel thought. Love had sheltered them from the judgemental eyes of the people of Kingsland, it had kept him alive in the trenches, and it would guide him home to see his wife once again.

Nathaniel watched as the Texas prairie faded into the more urban cityscape of Austin. He snatched up his duffel bag as the train pulled into the station. As he stepped off the train he glanced into the sky. The sun would set in a few hours. He had to secure a means of transport. Nathaniel and his brother, John, owned and operated a small ranch some sixty or so miles outside of Austin, near the town of Kingsland. He walked away from the station, eyes flitting to and fro, looking for any means of transportation that might be useful. He spotted a man tying a mare to a post. She wasn't the picture of excellent health (although she wasn't staggeringly unhealthy either) and that gave Nathaniel hope. He whistled sharply to grab the man's attention and jogged up to him.

"Sell me your horse?" Nathaniel got straight to the point.

The man looked at him incredulously and seemed about to protest as Nathaniel dropped his duffel on the ground and started rummaging through it. He pulled a small wad of cloth from it and revealed a small ruby.

"Trade you." He held it out to the man and tapped his foot impatiently. The ruby was a souvenir from France. Small it was, it was undoubtedly valuable. It was a high price to pay for a mare of middling health and no pedigree, but he hoped to get the man to let go of his horse as quickly as possible.

The man's eyes lit with greed and Nathaniel knew he'd snared him. The man inspected the rock, they shook hands, and Nathaniel was tying his duffel to his new mare. He mounted the horse and rode out of Austin at a canter heading northeast towards Kingsland.

* * *

 **Texas, 1918**

As the sun moved to its noontime position, Nathaniel approached his ranch. There were cattle out in a large pen, milling about lazily. He looked past the cattle to the respectable house that served as his family home, not that he had much family besides his wife and brother. As he rode up he started whistling loudly. He expected Juanita to come running out any second to greet him. It was something he often did, whistling to announce his return. Instead of his wife however, it was his brother who walked out of the home at a sedate pace to meet him at the porch.

Nathaniel hopped off his mare and tied the reins to the hitching post. He turned to his brother and enveloped him in a hug.

"John! You don't know how good it is to see you." He released his brother and held him at arm's length, taking him in. They were almost identical in appearance, although John's jaw wasn't quite so strong as Nathaniel's own. "Where's 'Nita?" Nathaniel asked as he moved to walk past his brother and into the house. His brother held him back by the forearm.

"Hold on, you gotta face this with a clear mind." Nathaniel turned around, seeing John giving him something of a queer look. His brother then brought his hands together into some weird shape and then flashed them through more shapes at great speed.

"What the Hell're you doin'?" Questioned Nathaniel, but John kept his silence for another few seconds until his hands came to a rest on another weird figure. "You gonna tell me what's goin'-"

John interrupted him, his hands quickly flying to take hold of Nathaniel's head while he cried "Kai!"

There was a small flash of light and Naruto Uzumaki felt it all flooding back. Memory and power rushed into his being and, for the first time in seventeen years, he felt full, whole. Rapidly the body of a man in his thirties lost it's wrinkles, all signs of wear and tear, and where once stood a man that was reaching the cut off point for active duty, stood a fresh and hearty twenty year old. Six black lines spread across his cheeks looking a lot like whiskers and his dirty blonde hair gained more a golden luster.

Naruto rubbed his head dazedly and tried to regain his bearings. "We agreed forty years," were the first words out of his mouth. The plan had been to seal away his chakra and the memories of his home world for forty years. Long enough, in Naruto's estimation, for him to live a normal life without being burdened by the ghosts of his past.

"You'd wanna face this with a clear head, boss," replied his 'brother', whose features had changed in a similar fashion to Naruto's own until what stood before him was a complete replica. A shadow clone stood before him, having been brought into existence seventeen years before and gifted with enough chakra to last half a century under normal circumstances.

"What're you talking about?" asked Naruto, before fear gripped him. "Where's Juanita?" The past seventeen years of his life had been lived under a willing charade, true, but the love remained.

The clone couldn't seem to meet his eyes, but he started walking around the house to the back, motioning for its creator to follow. When the field at the back of the house came into view, Naruto saw all that he needed to. There was a small mound of dirt, that stood out from the yellowing grass around it. It was marked with a wooden cross. Naruto ran a hand through his hair and let out a long sigh. He didn't need to guess to know who was buried here.

"What happened?" he asked in a defeated tone.

"Came down with the flu a few weeks ago, she passed two days ago." He should have known. The flu had been raging in Europe, he might have expected it had made its way home too.

Naruto rounded on his clone. "You couldn't have healed her?!" he snapped.

"You just gave me chakra, boss. Regular old chakra, all the good stuff was locked away with you. We were never any good at healing jutsu." The clone shook his head solemnly before he suddenly seemed to remember something important. "Some good news though, come on!"

The clone dashed into the house through the backdoor. Naruto followed a moment later at a more sedate pace. He couldn't imagine what the good news there could be. He followed the clone up the stairs and into the master bedroom. It was the same as he'd left it, although Juanita seemed to have left a few odds and ends scattered about during his absence. What really stood out, however, was the wooden cradle that stood near the bed. There were gurgling sounds coming from inside as the clone fussed with what was inside.

Naruto approached, almost hesitant to see. What he saw brought tears to his eyes. It was a baby, blonde with dark eyes, his mother's eyes.

"Juanita named him Nathaniel," said the clone. "Junior," he added as an afterthought.

"When was he born?" Naruto asked in a whisper as he scooped his child into his arms.

"January 29th, 1918," answered the clone. "He'll be a year old in a couple months. She wanted to surprise you when you came home."

Juanita had always been one to leave him little gifts, apropos of nothing. She seemed to enjoy his calm delight whenever he stumbled upon a gift of hers. It seemed she'd left him one final gift before her passing.

"Junior. My boy," Naruto whispered as the baby cooed up at him in delight.

* * *

 **Just a small update as I sort my ideas out for this story. I actually had two chapters written, but my imagination ran away with me. I'm salvaging what I can in the hopes of having the next one out next week.**


End file.
